That is the claim from Rob Campbell, principal of Impington Village College, who says the best headteachers are being put off taking up posts at underachieving schools because it is seen as career suicide.

He said they are not given enough time to turn a struggling school around before they are booted out with their reputation in tatters.

He added: “It is a lot like football managers, but the difference is David Moyes will almost certainly have a new job for the start of the season.

“He’s had a trophyless season, a poor season for Manchester United, but he won’t be out of a job for long.”

Mr Campbell said the same could not be said for headteachers, who are being sacked if they fail to make huge strides with an under-performing school within a year.

He said: “There is an incredible amount of pressure and if results aren’t achieved quickly it could mean they lose their job and the end of their career.”

“It takes headteachers more than a year to do everything that needs to be done to turn around a school.”

Mr Campbell spoke to the News as a member of the Headteachers’ Roundtable, a group of heads who met on Twitter to stop education being used as a party political football and to feed politicians with informed policy suggestions.

It has launched its manifesto a year before the General Election, which includes proposals on everything from a new exam system to a national academy for the training teachers and the reform of Ofsted inspections.

It is calling for a “national recruitment fund” to attract the most talented staff, particularly heads and English and maths teachers, to schools in areas of high underachievement.

They have called for three-year contracts with security of tenure to talented leaders who commit to working in the most socially-deprived areas of the country with a guaranteed post on completion.

Given limits on funding, Mr Campbell has suggested the Pupil Premium, extra cash given to schools for every child on free school meals, would be better spent targeting children and their parents before they reach reception, saying the “die is cast” by the age of 5.

The issue is particularly important in Cambridgeshire, which has one of the widest gaps in achievement between rich and poor children in the country.

Mr Campbell said: “It’s alarming the number of these kids at 4 and 5 years old turning up to start school still wearing nappies.

“They are starting behind their peers and it is hard for them to catch up. I don’t want to be fatalistic, but the die has already been cast in secondary school. Differences at the age 5 will be exacerbated as they go through school.”